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All 62 People Onboard the Boeing Jet that Crashed in Southern Russian are Dead; Cuba Prepares for Historic Visit from U.S. President Barack Obama; Paris Terror Attack Suspect Salah Abdeslam Finally Captured. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired March 19, 2016 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:00] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: And hello, I'm Natalie Allen live from CNN Center in Atlanta, we're following breaking news out of Russia, all 62 people onboard of Boeing jet that crashed in Southern Russian are dead.

State Media are showing this video here which they say is the moment of the crash there in the distant and the fireball afterwards, CNN cannot independently confirm that that's what we're seeing. But, the jet did make two attempts to land in snowy, rainy, windy weather. Investigators say on the second try, its tail clipped the runway. Flydubai flight 9081 was coming from Dubai. Doctors and psychologists are at the crash site right now to help family members cope with what has happened.

CNN has coverage on both sides of the story with Matthew Chance who's live for us at our Moscow Bureau and CNN Producer Jon Jensen is in Dubai for us.

Matthew, let's start with you, because we know that weather conditions were so very difficult and it seems that the plane landed or crashed, unfortunately, just shy of the runway.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, 250 meters or more shy of the runway it seems according to emergency officials. I mean, details are still pretty sketchy about what exactly happened, but as the hours pass, we're starting to build a better picture of the last moments of this flight, this Boeing 737- 800, a relatively modern, a very modern airline or in fact.

With 55 passengers onboard and seven crew, all of them have been confirmed dead, there were no survivors in this crash in Rostov-on-Don in Southern Russia. And investigators say that the weather there does indeed seem to have been a major factor in the crash, very high winds, something between 22 and 27 meters per second, the wind translates to about 97 kilometers or 60 miles per hour. That's very gusty indeed and was a problem.

Visibility was also a problem according to meteorologists, there was snow storms in the area, there was heavy rain as well at times. And that obviously caused a problem for aircraft landing the airport in Rostov-on-Don, indeed this airliner, this Flydubai budget airline carrier tried to land, first of all, at its scheduled time at 1:20 in the morning. But then, it aborted that first landing attempt and circled the airport around Rostov-on-Don for about two hours according to Flightradar24, which is a website that monitors that the flight pass of commercial airlines.

So for two hours, it circled back the airport before trying again for the second time and so at that point, it crashed, as you say, just shy of the airport runway.

ALLEN: And Matthew, did it have any other options, do the pilots have any other options as far as other airports in the region?

CHANCE: Well, I think they would have done because at least one aircraft that was also attempting to land after Rostov-on-Don diverted to the nearby city of Krasnodar, which is about 250 kilometers, about 141 miles away from Rostov-on-Don.

And so that would certainly have been an option. And it's interesting that the Flydubai crew didn't take that option whereas the other airline did, they chose instead to wait, using up their excess fuel I expect for the two hours that they were circling Rostov until it seems their options may have run out, they may have hacked to of gunning for the second landing because they didn't have the fuel left that I'm speculating now, but they may not have the fuel left to try and get to another airport.

And so, you know, we don't know yet. Obviously, we're waiting for the flight recorders, data recorders and the voice cockpit, voice recorders to be recovered before we can make that assertion for sure.

But that's what the investigator is going to be looking for, any indication from those cockpit voice recorders and the flight data recorder as to why it was this plane went down with such a heavy loss of life.

ALLEN: And do we know what the weather conditions are there now as daylight is there and the work is there going on at the scene?

CHANCE: Well, I mean, I just had a brief look at the weather forecast for Rostov actually just before I came up here. And it's still pretty overcast, it's still raining, the winds have died down to much more manageable levels. And so that's not a factor.

There are something like 700 workers, emergency workers, who have been deployed there sort of clearing up the scene, they're calling it a rescue effort but, of course, it's not a rescue effort at this point. It's more of a salvage operation.

Investigators, salvage teams there at the scene, there are also psychologists and medics at the airport to deal with the family members, of course, because the vast majority of the passengers onboard this plane were from Rostov-on-Don itself and the surrounding area.

[02:05:05] And so they would have been met by family members because it's very traditional in Russia to do so when people come back from trips.

And so, yeah, that's what's happening on the ground.

At the airport, it's been announced in Rostov because of the proximity of the plane crash to the runway will remain closed for at least another day. And so there were many flights going in and out of Rostov for the moment.

ALLEN: All right, Matthew Chance, of course, there live in Moscow. Thanks so much.

So again, 55 passengers onboard, seven crew members on that flight.

Let's get more now from our CNN Producer Jon Jensen. He's at the Dubai International Airport where flight 981 took off. Jon, what are you hearing from the airline?

JON JENSEN, CNN PRODUCER: Natalie, I'm in Terminal 2, the departure home (ph), where 981 originated. It seems pretty much like business as usual here, there are number of passengers waiting to fly. One representative for Flydubai told me that they don't have delays in their other flights, their schedule hasn't been affected by this crash in Russia.

Behind the scenes, though, we're told that the airline is scrambling right now to get as much information as possible and get that out for the family members involved. They set up a crisis response team and -- or dealing with all authorities involved on both sides. And a statement I'd like to read for you, just a little bit what they said. "Flydubai is deeply sorry to confirm the following information in relation to the tragic accident involving flight 981, which was flying from Dubai International to Rostov-on-Don. While we are still awaiting final confirmation, it is with great sadness that we report we believe there are no survivors." That is the statement from Flydubai.

And also the CEO of this young airline had said that they are in deep shock and their hearts go out to all the families and friends of those involved.

Natalie, this is an airline with a very good safety record. They -- there have been no major incidents since they started flying in 2009. It's a low-cost carrier established by the government here in Dubai and they fly, you know, medium-haul route around the Middle East, North Africa, India, Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe.

They, according to their website, do around 1,400 flights a week and they only fly the 737-800, the same airliner that was involved in this crash, we understand they have 50 of them in their fleet and we're told they've been flying to the Southern City in Russia, Rostov-on-Don since 2013.

Natalie?

ALLEN: Jon, any information about this particular airplane that crashed? JENSEN: Not at this point, we have heard from our aviation analyst

that the airline involved for 737-800 was relatively new. I hear it was purchased in 2011. Of course, most of their entire leverage certainly (inaudible) when they started flying with 50 aircraft in 2009 and have just made several purchases for more around 75 additional 737.

But, we are told, as I mentioned, that it was a fairly young aircraft. And as Matthew reported, it is known as a fairly safe modern aircraft this line.

ALLEN: All right, we appreciate it. Jon Jensen, of course, there in the airport in Dubai. Thank you.

Earlier, I talked with CNN Safety Analyst David Soucie, I asked him what he's learned about the weather conditions at the time of the crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: There was something going on at the airport most likely crosswinds. This airport doesn't have a lot of options as far as how you fly into it, or they didn't have a lot of options at the time due to the weather and the way that the wind was blowing through the airport.

So, the first option to land would have been taken if the crosswind is too high. They waited, they flew until they could find another -- a better time, when the wind subsided a little bit, they would hit the second attempt.

So, it is possible that that has something to do with it. It's not likely, it wasn't kind of mechanical failure, as you've said, the aircraft was fairly new, it's not -- it's a very reliable airplane, it's the backbone of airline industry really. And, so, at this point, it looks like it's a weather related type of an accident.

ALLEN: Was it the winds were very severe as there was apparently a mix of snow and rain, as you say, it might have been trying to land during a crosswind situation. How taxing would that be for a pilot in such a situation where, is there any part of the autopilot computer engaged at this point?

SOUCIE: At this point, he'd be trying to fly this by hand. The autopilot computer would trip itself off most likely if it's trying to make these constant maneuvers.

The second chance or the alternative airport that he would have selected, I'm very surprised that they would have flown for two hours and then made another attempt unless there was a report that the weather had lifted or was going to some lift.

So, at the second attempt, if he'd burned off two hours of fuel, he may not have had enough fuel then at that point to make a decision to go to a different airport. So at this point, you kind of have to make it or break it, the

landing.

[02:10:03] So, there's quite a bit of tension with the pilot. The pilot is trying to do the best he can. He may just have run out of alternatives.

ALLEN: Such a tragedy when you think that they had aborted the first attempt to land. How much communication would the cockpit be getting from the tower? How much input? Is this for the most part in the pilot's control?

SOUCIE: The information that goes to the pilot at this point is about the weather primarily. They're going to be down on the ground giving them weather reports from exactly how the weather is coming.

Again, I'm not sure what alternative airport, the alternate airport, was for this flight. Again, I'm pretty surprised that he wouldn't have taken this to another location to its alternate airport, unless there was information, as I said, from the ground saying the weather is lifting, is looking better, but it is weather and it is very unpredictable especially on this ground swells and ground as the wind goes through and goes laterally across the airport.

So you can get sidecast winds that make the airplane have to take very serious maneuvers and crab into the wind and at the very last minute, go from a crab into the wind into a bank into the wind and that's when you only have so much to work with, because as that wind is coming across, your tip, your wingtip can only take so much before the landing gear hits the ground. So that's likely why the first one was aborted is that last maneuver to try to line things up on the runway would have been aborted because the wingtip was in danger of hitting the ground.

So when he made that second pass, he was hoping that the wind didn't subsided enough, I would imagine, to get down on the ground and unfortunately that was misjudged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: David Soucie there for us in the blast of tail that hit the ground first to shy of the runway that caused this tragedy. David also talking about the tension that these pilots were likely under.

Meanwhile, there's Derek Van Dam who's been looking into that. He joins me now from the International Weather to talk about these conditions. And you have very telling visual data, Derek, that indicates what these pilots were going through.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: Yeah, it is compelling and we'll get to that information in just one second, Natalie.

First, we're just analyzing the video of the time of the crash. And you can see quite a sheen or shininess on the roadways just in front of where the explosion or the down flight took place indicating that, obviously, some sort of weather was in the area. And, we go back to what is called METAR codes, these are meteorological lines of data that give information, very specific weather information at that point in time. And the last METAR information at the time of the crash, what you see right there, it was reported wind speed of 25 meters per second which equates to about 90 kilometers per hour and there were rain showers in the area. Temperature is just about freezing, so it could have been mixed with snow as well.

Now, I want to go to Flightradar24, this is the really compelling data that I want to show you, because in between, flight 981's first attempt to land and the second attempt which ultimately was the crash.

There was another flight, flight SU1166, we're looking at its flight path. It started in Moscow and was moving towards the Rostov-on-Don region. But, it attempted to land but it made these three landing attempts and actually got diverted to the south. So this indicates that other planes were attempting to land, but realized that the weather was not conditioned for landing.

Now, we get to flight 981 and you can see the flight pattern as it circulated around the Rostov-on-Don region. You could see that it obviously was diverted on its first attempted to land and then that second fatal attempt, unfortunately, was the plane -- the moment that it actually took down the plane. But if we scroll down to the bottom of this screen, this is the really interesting information.

What you're looking at here is the altitude of the plane, there is the first attempt, the drop in altitude. But as we go further in time, the second attempt, the second landing attempt where it dropped significant amounts of altitude in a short amount of time, there was a brief moment there for about 66 seconds where it accelerated.

So, there are these reports that the tail struck the ground at first. You can actually notice that it accelerated and then dropped about 4,000 feet indicating that the pilots attempted to correct the error or correct the problem with the plane before ultimately falling to the ground.

Natalie.

ALLEN: 66 seconds is a short time for most of us, but during that time, that probably seems very long ...

VAN DAM: That's true.

ALLEN: ... to the both. It's very compelling. Thank you.

VAN DAM: All right.

ALLEN: Thanks, Derek.

Well, coming up here, we switch to our other breaking story that we continue to follow, your most wanted man wounded and captured alive.

[02:15:00] Will the key suspect in November's Paris attacks provide critical information to authorities about more possible terror plot? We'll look into that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ALLEN: If you're just joining us, our top story, all 62 people onboard, a Boeing jet that crashed in Southern Russia are dead.

State Media are showing this video they say it's the moment of the crash. CNN cannot independently confirm that.

Investigators say the plane's tail flipped the runway as the pilot made a second landing attempt in very bad weather.

Flydubai flight 981 was coming from Dubai, the airline says it is verifying the passenger list right now.

We turn to now an alluded and exhausted dragnet that went on for months, but now one of your most wanted men, Paris terror attack suspect, Salah Abdeslam, has finally been captured. Gunfire rang out as he was detained in a raid in Brussels on Friday.

Four other people were also taken into custody and forensic teams have been calming the area.

CNN's Brian Todd reports fingerprints let authorities to Abdeslam's hideout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A dramatic shootout in a top European capital and the major victory for counter terror forces. Salah Abdeslam, a chief suspect in the Paris attacks, is shot in the leg in Brussels but captured alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a very intense work that has been undertaken today.

TODD: The 26 year-old who'd once served jail time with Paris attack plotter, Abdul Hamid Aboud, had almost been caught three days earlier. The Belgium prosecutor says his fingerprints and DNA were found after a raid on another Brussels' apartment earlier this week.

During that operation, a Belgian sniper shot and killed Mohamad Belkaid, a militant believed to have directed the November 13th attacks in Paris by phone.

Analysts believe Belkaid had helped Salah Abdeslam hide in Brussels. With Abdeslam's capture, one of the most intense manhunts in law enforcement history ends successful.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: This is a very significant breakthrough for Belgian security services. He's been on the run for four months. There was concern that in the wake of the Paris attacks that he would carry out a full-on attack somewhere in Belgium, somewhere in Europe.

TODD: Just before 9:00 in Paris on the evening of November 13th, investigators believe at that moment Salah Abdeslam driving a black Renault Clio dropped off three suicide bombers at the Stade de France. Abdeslam's brother, Brahim, was identified as another suicide bomber

at another location in Paris that night. Officials say Salah Abdeslam likely had an order to attack himself and wore a suicide belt, although he's believed to have had a more volatile temperament than his brother, Salah decided not to follow his orders.

CRUICKSHANK: He had not go through without operation for whatever combination of reasons, perhaps, there was a malfunction with his device.

[02:20:02] Authorities also suspect he may just have chickened out, not wanting to go through with it.

TODD: Later that night, Salah Abdeslam was whizzed away from Paris by two friends. Near the Belgian border, they came through police checkpoints, but because Abdeslam had not yet been identified as one of the Paris suspects, he was allowed to go on his way.

Then, friends and fellow operatives helped Salah Abdeslam melt away in the Belgian capital. Now, analysts say Abdeslam's capture could help the European counter terror forces in two ways.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: First, if Abdeslam was part of another forthcoming plot, that threat can now be neutralized. And, Abdeslam can be a great source of intelligence on the wider network behind the Paris attacks.

Experts say there are still suspects at large in that plot, some of them operating on European soil.

Brian Todd, CNN Washington.

ALLEN: I spoke a short time ago with CNN Intelligence and Security Analyst Bob Baer. He told me that Abdeslam's capture opens up more questions about how he was able to remain on the run for so long.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: There is a community in Brussels, around Brussels in the suburbs, largely North Africa, in where these people could -- are protected. They can hide. It's unusual for the most wanted men in the world to be able to go four months without detection.

And they more or less found him by accident. I mean, this tells the story in the fact that these guys were armed up with automatic weapons, the fact that they got away from the police at least for a while and had another safe house to go to. This is a fairly sophisticated group with a large network.

ALLEN: The fact that they got him alive, what will they try to learn from him now?

BAER: Well, I'll tell you, what I'd like to figure out is that attack on Paris on the 13th of November was a military style attack, who ultimately organized this, what sort of training did they get, because it was very good, it's very tactically, it was sound, you know, multiple teams and the rest of it.

And how many more of these people are prepared to come into Europe or already here, and that kind of question, I'm not sure that Abdeslam can answer. But he might start down that route.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: So, why was Salah Abdeslam in Brussels and not Syria?

CNN Contributor Michael Weiss who also co-wrote the book, ISIS, Inside the Army of Terror, has a theory.

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This puts to rest one of the sort of essential questions we've all had in the last four months, which was, did -- was Abdeslam still in good odor with ISIS.

There had been reports in the British press that he was frequenting gay clubs in a district in Brussels that he might have led a double life as a positive (ph) homosexual, which would had absolutely made him not want to go to Syria and rejoin the ranks of the caliphate.

ALLEN: Next here on CNN, we will have a preview of U.S. President Obama's historic trip to Cuba and how the island nation is preparing for his visit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Cuba is getting ready for a historic visit from U.S. President Barack Obama this weekend. The trip comes after a breakthrough in relations between Havana and Washington including the easing of travel restrictions. Here's more from CNN's Patrick Oppmann in Havana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been a long wait, but Cuba is getting ready to welcome a U.S. president.

After 50 years of isolation from America, Cubans are elated that relations with the U.S. have improved to the point that an American president is visiting for the first time in 88 years.

[02:25:10] Alejandro ended his studies to drive tourists in a 1950 Chevrolet, earning more in an hour than he would have pulled down as an engineer in a month. He says he hopes to soon drive more Americans.

"I'm only 21 years old", he said. "I never thought a U.S. president would visit Cuba. I hope the relations improve between the U.S. and Cuba, that the economic situation gets better. That's what Cuba really needs."

While the U.S. economic embargo, which only Congress can lift, is still in place, Obama has dulled some of the sanction's sharpest teeth. It's not clear how much Cuba's communist leaders will open the economy in return.

Already, the opening with the U.S. has changed some people's lives.

Cici and her family sing happy birthday to her grandfather, Israel (ph), who is turning 83 and lives in Florida.

She is grateful for new areas with public WiFi that the government has recently opened.

Internet in Cuba is some of the most restricted in the world. President Obama has vowed to push for more access.

"I'm hoping for a little more flexibility now", she says, "maybe to visit our family. It's been 16 years since we've been able to see them. Now, at least, thanks to this, we can see them on the tablets or on our cellphones. The separation has been too long."

Some Cubans are looking to mark the historic occasion by engaging in a little capitalism.

Crafts maker Buby Canosa is selling Obama souvenirs.

"I think it's a gesture, something historic", she says. "His visit is historic, and so people will take this keepsake with them, Obama in Cuba."

Obama's visit is just one step in building trust between two countries that for decades were on opposite sides of the Cold War.

Many here say they have waited their whole lives for this moment.

Ya era hora is what many Cubans we spoke to told us about the new beginning with America, "It was time."

Patrick Oppmann, CNN Havana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: President Obama will be arriving in Cuba on Sunday evening. Thank you for watching. I'm Natalie Allen, and top stories are right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: It's the CNN news now. I'm Natalie Allen. A Flydubai jet that crashed in Southern Russia circled the airport on nearly two hours of bad weather before crashing more than 250 meters from the runway.

[02:30:04] All 62 people onboard were killed. Investigators say the back of the plane struck the ground as it made its second fatal landing attempt.